1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to flour-based foods, and more particularly to a starch-free flour and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein the starch-free flour, which contains nano bran fine particles, is adapted to replace the traditional flour to produce a starch-free nutritional and healthy food such as noodles, breads and the like.
2. Description of Related Arts
It is witnessed that people all over the world, especially in developed countries, have been giving so much concerns about health care and medical issues in decades. Actually, we live in a health conscious society and longevity is a common goal in all nations. However, a severe threat to the health of the global community is obesity as well as overweight. This is due to the fact that overweight and obesity could cause as much preventable diseases and death as any factors like cigarette smoking and excessive drinking. Here, overweight are no more personal matters, but a health issue that communities should address its serious consequences. According to the Surgeon General's office, the increases in overweight and obesity cut across all ages, racial and ethnic groups, and both genders, and overweight and obesity are associated with heart disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, breathing problems, and psychological disorders such as depression. In short, overweight could shorten people's lives.
The cause of overweight and obesity is no longer in doubt. In some respects, the cause sounds simple. People put on weight if the amount of energy that he took into his body from food is greater than the amount of energy that he used. Energy from food that he did not use would be converted into fat, and stored in the body. Meanwhile, the specific types of food that's eaten are key factors contributed to excessive energy. Several authorized medical journals had convincingly indicated that food high in sugar, fat, white flour, white rice, and salt, get people fat. In other words, weight gain occurs when the caloric intake is higher than the calories burnt each day in normal activities and exercise. When people consumed too much sugar and starch food, excessive energy would be stored as fat deposits, thereby causing energy unbalance as well as obesity.
On the other hand, human beings require food to grow, reproduce, and maintain good health. Without food, our bodies could not stay warm, build or repair tissue, or maintain a heartbeat. Eating the right foods can help us avoid certain diseases or recover faster when illness occurs. These and other important functions are fueled by chemical substances in our food called nutrients. Nutrients are classified as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.
Once food digested, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats provide the body with the energy it needs to maintain its many functions. As a result, people need a well balance food intake to maintain body's metabolism and daily consumption. However, American style processed food and fast food is malnutrition, i.e. real food is replaced by food lacking in essential nutrients. People eat more useless, fattening, destructive food, especially with too much starch contained instead of the fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts it really needs. The result is obesity, and all the illnesses that are obesity causes.
However, people living on this planet have relied on starch foods, like flour and rice as food supply for thousands of years. For instance, the annual world wide rice production output is around 390 million metric tons and wheat is around 570 million metric tons. Therefore, it is rather harder to change the eating habits inherited from our ancestors. Here, it's safe to point out that common grain food, rice and flour, are not very healthy. There are several reasons why rice and flour are bad: rice and wheat are in fact a large supply of starch, surrounded by a kernel. Starch decomposes (digests) into maltose and isomaltose in the intestines, which then decompose into glucose. In other words, when a person takes a slice of bread and crushes it in his hand, he is virtually eating that amount of refined sugar. The problem is that that amount of sugar elevates the blood sugar levels amazingly fast and causes pancreas to produce lots and lots of insulin to metabolize it. Humans are not adapted to eat such amounts of concentrated carbohydrates and the pancreas isn't fit to that job. Over time one will develop insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, diabetes II. Another problem is that the immune system crashes when blood sugar levels increases to high levels. Another problem with rice and flour is voidance of minerals and vitamins, which are needed to properly digest and metabolize the huge amount of starch. So, each time one eats a slice of bread or a spoon of rice, his body needs to take minerals and vitamins from its limited stores to digest and metabolize it. Over time, he will develop deficiencies of those vitamins and minerals.
Moreover, rice and wheat are in fact very hard to digest properly. It has two digestion phases. First, the starches, which are very long chains of carbohydrate molecules, must be separated into small pieces consisting of 2 glucose molecules. Next, the intestines need to produce enough enzymes (maltase) to digest the maltose into the elemental glucose molecules. This is quite a lot of work. The problem is that the human body isn't fit for this job and a part of the starch isn't absorbed and descends into the large intestines, feeding critters, causing inflammation, gasses, damage to the wall of the intestines, and other problems.
As for the problem of not getting enough starch (sugar), no such problem exists. Carbohydrates are optional. People can survive and feel perfectly healthy on a zero-carbohydrate diet. Several reports and researches have convincingly illustrated that people who virtually eat zero carbohydrates or low-carbohydrate diet are much healthier than people eating starch dominating meals each day.
As a result, weight reduction and maintenance of a desirable weight are concerns of many people in contemporary society. There is an increasing interest in low calorie food products. Many such foods have been formulated to provide calorie reduction by substituting artificial sweeteners for sugars, or reducing the fat content. Since carbohydrates, especially starches, are a significant component of basic goods, especially of rice and flour that feed billions people on Earth, it would also be advantageous to produce low calorie, high nutritional starch replacements. Such ingredients could then be employed in noodles, breads, cookies, sweet rolls, doughnuts, crackers, pastries, cakes and cake mixes, snacks, and the like, which are favorites in the diets of those who often struggle to maintain or reduce their present weight.
Meanwhile, this planet produces 390 million metric tons rice annually. The regular rice milling process produces considerable rice by-products, such as rice hull and rice bran. For example, the bran layer makes up about 8 to 10% of the rough rice weight. However, rice hulls and rice bran are considered in most countries as by-product and are disposed of or immediately sold as animal feed. This is a wrong concept about rice milling by-products. Rice hulls, a recycled resource, could be used as a fiber source, premix, and pellet binder in the animal feed industry. Rice bran is a mixture of substances, including protein, fat, ash, and crude fiber. Rice bran is also a very good source of cooking oil.